The government is extending the hours that deliveries can be made to supermarkets to help the industry respond to the spike in demand for some essentials as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.
Top supermarket executives agreed on the move yesterday in a conference call with George Eustice, the secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs.
Several supermarket chains began restricting sales of impacted food and household items over the weekend after shelves in some stores were stripped bare due to coronavirus stockpiling.
Eustice said: “By allowing night-time deliveries to our supermarkets and food retailers, we can free them up to move their stocks more quickly from their warehouses to their shelves.”
The teleconference is also said to have involved discussions around ways that supermarkets could get food to people infected by the virus and that are self-isolating.
Meanwhile, if the crisis worsens significantly, retailers also want the government to consider relaxing competition rules, which currently limit cooperation between firms. Such a waiver could enable the supermarkets to work together on deliveries in local areas where, for example, one shop had been forced to close because of a local virus outbreak.
Last year, such an idea was raised as a way supermarkets and the food industry could cope with the potential consequences of a no-deal Brexit. A temporary removal of competition restrictions would require the approval of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) said yesterday demand for a limited number of products was “unprecedented outside of the Christmas period”.
According to an online survey of 1,000 consumers conducted by insight experts HIM & MCA Insight, 34% of shoppers are stockpiling food in case of a major coronavirus outbreak.
67% of shoppers are concerned in some way about shops running out of groceries due to a major coronavirus outbreak. Tinned foods (17%), frozen foods (14%), toiletries (14%) and dried goods (14%) are the most popular categories that shoppers are already stocking up on.
Even more significantly, 88% of shoppers say they will stockpile food if there is a major coronavirus outbreak. The most popular categories that shoppers plan to top up on if there is a major coronavirus outbreak are tinned foods (59%), frozen foods (52%), dried goods (50%), household goods (47%) and wipes/hand gels (35%).
When asked how much they plan on spending on stockpiling, 30% said over £100 and 5% said over £500.
Overall, 84% of shoppers are concerned in some way about a major coronavirus outbreak in the UK, with 25% very concerned. 23% of shoppers have or plan to increase their use of online grocery delivery due to coronavirus concerns.
Blonnie Walsh, Head of Insight at HIM and MCA Insight said: “The perceived growing threat of coronavirus is becoming more of a concern for UK grocery shoppers and this is being reflected in their beliefs and actions. Strong media coverage with daily updates on the number of confirmed cases will likely result in shoppers engaging in extreme behaviours.”
“There is no doubt that retailers, suppliers and wholesalers are monitoring the situation closely and doing as much as they can. Advice and communication is critical in these situations to help manage shopper needs and mitigate panic.”
